Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, is a popular style consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching, break dancing, and graffiti writing, include sampling (or synthesis), and beatboxing.
While often used to refer to rapping, "hip hop" more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. The term hip hop music is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music, though rapping is not a required component of hip hop music; the genre may also incorporate other elements of hip hop culture, including DJing and scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks.
Creation of the term hip hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, rapper with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. However, Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was still known as disco rap. It is believed that Cowboy created the term while teasing a friend who had just joined the U.S. Army, by scat singing the words "hip/hop/hip/hop" in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of soldiers marching. Cowboy later worked the "hip hop" cadence into a part of his stage performance, which was quickly used by other artists such as The Sugarhill Gang in "Rapper's Delight". During the block parties, DJ KoolHerch began naming anyone who would wait for the breaks in the songs just to dance freestyle ‘B-Boy’. After that, Melle Mel, member of ‘The Furious Five’, the first hip-hop group which made it into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, was credited as the first lyricist who called himself MC. While the first mixtapes were recorded, Hip-Hop also gained a large following in Philadelphia. Thus, everything began taking shape for the genre’s consolidation in the 1980’s.
Universal Zulu Nation founder Afrika Bambaataa is credited with first using the term to describe the subculture in which the music belonged; although it is also suggested that it was a derogatory term to describe the type of music. The first use of the term in print was in The Village Voice, by Steven Hager, later author of a 1984 history of hip hop.
Recently, National Geographic made popular the quote “The 80’s was the decade that made us”, and it couldn’t be truer for Hip-Hop. The genre began to be influenced by rock music, the lyrics had become more socially conscious and polished, and new divisions were also settled. New School Hip-Hop was known for having a more upbeat and funkier sound, and this element made the album ‘Licensed to III’ by the Beastie Boys skyrocket in popularity and become the first rap album to peak atop of Billboard in 1986. In the meantime, Gangsta rap became the most profitable subgenre of Hip-Hop, since it suited West Coast’s audiences taste better, rather New York’s listeners. Gradually, the genre began incorporating more Latino talent in it, as rappers of Porto Rican, Mexican and Cuban descent started their careers in either coasts and rapped in both English and Spanish. The movement also set its sights in the international market as Hiroshi Fujiwara took his experience from America to Japan, Sidney Duteil became the first black TV host in France while promoting the genre with the program ‘H.IP.H.O.P’ and AfrikaBambaataa was in the airwaves of radios from all over the world with the single ‘Planet Rock’.
Besides that, Run–D.M.C., the group which was acknowledged by both Vh1 and MTV as the ‘Greatest Hip-Hop Group of All Time’ hooked up with Aerosmith for the lead single of ‘Raising Hell’, one of the best-selling rap albums of all time. The collaboration was a historical event, mainly because it broke the strong musical racial barrier that existed in Rock/Hip-Hop, and helped in both the group’s crossover to mainstream and Aerosmith’s revival in popularity. Moreover, Hip-Hop also influenced Contemporary R&B, which eventually also found its audience worldwide with the jazzy feel along with the electronic elements and percussion, and had Tina Turner as a major pioneer. Michael and Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Boys II Men and Bobby Brown were the artists who first made use of it in their work, due to the influential producer Teddy Riley, who is credited as being the massive defining force behind the genre.
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, is a popular style consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching, break dancing, and graffiti writing, include sampling (or synthesis), and beatboxing.
While often used to refer to rapping, "hip hop" more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. The term hip hop music is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music, though rapping is not a required component of hip hop music; the genre may also incorporate other elements of hip hop culture, including DJing and scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks.
Creation of the term hip hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, rapper with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. However, Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was still known as disco rap. It is believed that Cowboy created the term while teasing a friend who had just joined the U.S. Army, by scat singing the words "hip/hop/hip/hop" in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of soldiers marching. Cowboy later worked the "hip hop" cadence into a part of his stage performance, which was quickly used by other artists such as The Sugarhill Gang in "Rapper's Delight". During the block parties, DJ KoolHerch began naming anyone who would wait for the breaks in the songs just to dance freestyle ‘B-Boy’. After that, Melle Mel, member of ‘The Furious Five’, the first hip-hop group which made it into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, was credited as the first lyricist who called himself MC. While the first mixtapes were recorded, Hip-Hop also gained a large following in Philadelphia. Thus, everything began taking shape for the genre’s consolidation in the 1980’s.
Universal Zulu Nation founder Afrika Bambaataa is credited with first using the term to describe the subculture in which the music belonged; although it is also suggested that it was a derogatory term to describe the type of music. The first use of the term in print was in The Village Voice, by Steven Hager, later author of a 1984 history of hip hop.
Recently, National Geographic made popular the quote “The 80’s was the decade that made us”, and it couldn’t be truer for Hip-Hop. The genre began to be influenced by rock music, the lyrics had become more socially conscious and polished, and new divisions were also settled. New School Hip-Hop was known for having a more upbeat and funkier sound, and this element made the album ‘Licensed to III’ by the Beastie Boys skyrocket in popularity and become the first rap album to peak atop of Billboard in 1986. In the meantime, Gangsta rap became the most profitable subgenre of Hip-Hop, since it suited West Coast’s audiences taste better, rather New York’s listeners. Gradually, the genre began incorporating more Latino talent in it, as rappers of Porto Rican, Mexican and Cuban descent started their careers in either coasts and rapped in both English and Spanish. The movement also set its sights in the international market as Hiroshi Fujiwara took his experience from America to Japan, Sidney Duteil became the first black TV host in France while promoting the genre with the program ‘H.IP.H.O.P’ and AfrikaBambaataa was in the airwaves of radios from all over the world with the single ‘Planet Rock’.
Besides that, Run–D.M.C., the group which was acknowledged by both Vh1 and MTV as the ‘Greatest Hip-Hop Group of All Time’ hooked up with Aerosmith for the lead single of ‘Raising Hell’, one of the best-selling rap albums of all time. The collaboration was a historical event, mainly because it broke the strong musical racial barrier that existed in Rock/Hip-Hop, and helped in both the group’s crossover to mainstream and Aerosmith’s revival in popularity. Moreover, Hip-Hop also influenced Contemporary R&B, which eventually also found its audience worldwide with the jazzy feel along with the electronic elements and percussion, and had Tina Turner as a major pioneer. Michael and Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Boys II Men and Bobby Brown were the artists who first made use of it in their work, due to the influential producer Teddy Riley, who is credited as being the massive defining force behind the genre.